>> this is bbc world news. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news.

>> police raid in toulouse, shots are fired as french special forces surround a house where a man is staying. he's believed to be behind a series of killings in the city. these pictures coming live from toulouse. two offers were shot in the raid. the suspect is armed with a machine gun and other weapons. in other news, a large earthquake rocks mexico, causing some damage, but no reported deaths. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up in the program -- the british finance minister, george osborne, is expected to offer tax cuts for millions in his budget as he tries to boost the economy. and just keep taking the tablets as long as it's aspirin, new evidence that a daily dose cuts cancer death.

>> hello. thanks for being with us. police in the southern french city of toulouse are trying to negotiate with a 24-year-old man wanted in connection with a spate of shootings which have left seven people dead. two officers were themselves shot and wounded as they launched a raid on the house he's staying in. the frenchman of algerian origin has reportedly admitted killing three children and a rabbi outside a jewish school in the city, and the previous killings of three soldiers. he was previously known to the police and was under surveillance for links to islamic extremists. this is the scene for you now live just a few hundred meters from the house itself. the man's brother has also been arrested. france's enter minister said that the man had previously been arrested on a trip to kandahar in afghanistan as well, and he added that he had thrown a gun out of the window and was talking about giving himself up in the course of the hours ahead. let's go over to christian fraser, who is in toulouse.

christian, it's moving fast, isn't it? what is the latest? >> yeah, we just heard in the last few minutes what sounded like a stun grenade, david, perhaps police running out of patience with this man. we know from the interior minister that he does intend to come out alive. he said he would give himself up this afternoon, but there is a lot of police activity here at the moment. policemen are driving past us, forensic teams arriving here, and skilled negotiators, who are well used to this kind of operation. you mentioned he threw a handgun out of the win dosme this is a colt handgun that was used in the three previous shootings. he is known to be heavily armed. there is a news of a calish nick off and other handguns inside, said the interior minister. >> obviously huge caution, christian, still in terms of how to deal with him. can you just outline how they actually got this far in terms of tracking him down? >> yeah, there were two key pieces of information, really,

which goes all the way back to the first victim. he was a soldier who was selling his scooter through a small ad section of a newspaper, and in that ad, he said that he was former military and the bike had not been used very much. there was an email exchange, the i.p. address was known to police because this man was already under surveillance. the domestic intelligence agency were watching him closely already for links to islamic extremism. subsequent to that, they discovered he tried to get his bike resprayed. he was in communication with a local garage. he'd also asked -- excuse me, this is obviously moving quite quickly, and there are a lot of people moving up and down this road. all sorts of officials here at the moment as well, interior minister and the mayor in the area at the moment. but just to resume, so he had a conversation with this local garage. he wanted his bike resprayed. he wanted the locate for on that bike had been removed.

that raised suspicions. and when they looked closer at him, they found that the mobile phone signal was being spotted around the jewish school. so, all that together, david, gave them reason to think that they might have their key suspect when they arrive here at 3:00 this morning, the exchange of gunfire probably confirmed to them that indeed they had their man. >> right, and christian, his brother has been arrested, i understand, and his mother even brought down towards the area where you are to help in negotiations if possible. >> yes, that's right. i don't know how much he knows about his links to this fringe al qaeda group, but it is a group with jihadist links. he is, we're told, of north african descent, though a french citizen. he told the interior minister he killed the children at the jewish school to avenge the deaths of children in the palestinian territories. the soldiers were a target, he said, because as a french citizen, he's opposed to the

involvement in afghanistan. the three soldiers that were killed on thursday were from a parachute regimen and from a unit that had served in afghanistan. >> i suppose we shouldn't underestimate the effort that's been put in, christian, to finding this man and finding him quickly. >> oh, absolutely, yes. there was a great deal of anxiety and apprehension in all communities here in toulouse, because the profile that they built up, david, did suggest that he was going to kill again. and it wasn't -- you know, obviously they dealt with gun attacks in this part of the world before, but it was the nature of the attacks that really concerned them. he was killing people at point-blank range. he was ruthfully efficient, very cruel, we know from the cctv footage they had from the attack at the jewish school. one of the children was trying to escape, and he grabbed her and shot her in the head. so, this was a brutal killer. there was every suggestion he was going to kill again, and they had to act very quickly. to narrow down the most

significant leads that they have, and there were a lot, a lot of information flooding in from the public, to underline the complexity of the investigation. they had over 7,000 hours of surveillance tape to go through. and a lot of that had photographs and film of the attacker as he left the scene. so, they knew a lot about him. they knew he was local. the roads that he chose to escape the scenes were narrow roads, suitable for a scooter, and the escape route he had chosen suggested that he certainly knew the area. >> christian, thanks very much, obvious al lot going on as we speak in toulouse. let's get some more now, the bbc's hugh schofield is in paris. hugh, we understand his name is mohammed merah. according to his facebook page, he's a jihadist. what can you tell us about him? >> well, i mean, i connect to everything that christian was saying, mohammed merah, we know that he has a criminal record

in france, because claude gueant said that, and we know also he had some kind of criminal record in kandahar of all places, in afghanistan. he clearly went out, was one of the several dozen maybe of young french men who had gone out to the afghan-pakistan border, the sort of al qaeda badlands to get indoctrinated in training and while out there, he fell foul of the police for some nonterrorist-related crimes, some petty crime, so his name is on the books there. and his name is on the books here in france, again, for nonpolitically-related crime. but claude gueant did say it was with some act of violence so. kin with build up a picture of a young man of north african descent who's involved in petty criminality, then a lot of these sort of converts, it goes all the way the other

direction, and moves over into the fold, goes out to afghanistan and pakistan and gets some kind of training out there, which would explain perhaps his almost paramilitary apparatus and this ruthlessness and a lone gunman kind of persona, and then as well, i mean, clearly he's been heavily radicalized by the whole islamist talk, and indeed, by the israeli-palestinian conflict. i think i suspect they come quite an issue, the way he killed the children at the school, claiming that this was in revenge for palestinian children. i've already heard one jewish leader on the radio this morning saying, well, we've got to really examine our consciences about how we portray the way israelis are treated in the media and so on, and i suspect that this famous image from 2000 of mohammed abdullah, the iconic image of the palestinian boy who killed

in gaza, the film footage of that, which is hugely controversial here in france because of the court case about it, i suspect this is going to come up as well. that kind of imagery is clearly radicalized him a lot, and it was used by him to justify what he did. >> i understand president sarkozy is meeting various groups in the course of the day. we've had something about a truce in terms of the election nearing, the election campaign. but immigration, nonetheless, a key issue within that campaign. how is all this likely to affect the campaign, do you think? >> i think there will be a concerted attempt by all concerned to completely isolate this and to make no link between it and the election. what mr. sarkozy will say will be three things, huge relief for the victims, huge relief and congratulations to the police, and then an appeal to

everyone to regard this as an isolated act by an isolated man , to make sure that the muslim community as a whole is not in any way made to feel responsible for this. that will be an essential part of his message, and one can be quite sure that he puts it out. i mean, before this happened this morning, there's a lot of talk about this far right-winger. that would have created all sorts of waves in the election campaign. this, too, has the potential to create waves in the election campaign, so everyone has to handle it very, very delicately. i think mr. sarkozy will handle it properly, and i'm sure the opposition will too. but the key message, which i'm sure they'll be putting out, will be there is an islamist menace, but in no way must we associate the muslim population as a whole with what has happened. >> hugh, thank you very much, hugh schofield in paris.

let's get other news, starting in mexico. a big earthquake hit much of the southwest of the country. it had a magnitude of 7.4. it was centered in guerrero state, but serious tremors also felt in the capital of mexico city. no reports of any deaths. the bbc's will grant reports from mexico city. >> from the moment the earthquake struck mexico city, it was clear it was a very powerful one. buildings shook violently for more than a minute, forcing office workers and residents to flee into the streets for safety. in the parliament building, too, the country's deputies headed for the doors as quickly as possible. there was some damage in the capital, including to a pedestrian bridge and a number of buildings. but in the main, people were simply shaken up and frightened. many residents had trouble contacting their loved ones by the overloaded mobile phone networks. soon the president, felipe

calderon, confirmed that the capital had escaped the worst. >> the latest report is that it was 7.8 magnitude on the richter scale. this is one of the strongest we have felt. fortunately, no serious damage has been reported so far, although i can't rule that out. >> the epicenter was located in the western state of guerrero, and the effects there have been serious. the state governor said around 500 homes were damaged with some having collapsed completely. it will take time for the full-scale of the problem in that region to become clear and whether there were any casualties. still, given that this was the most powerful earthquake since 1985, when thousands of residents of the capital were killed in an 8.1 magnitude event, there is a palpable sense of relief in mexico that this situation wasn't far, far worse. will grant, bbc news, mexico

city. >> sally is here now on what is budget day here in the u.k. >> yes, indeed, i am and there are unofficial briefs as to what might be in that budget box later today when our chancellor, george osborne, presents it to parliament. one funny tweet that i read about five minutes ago is, it's not the real twitter account for our prime minister, david cameron, but it's a spoof one which says, what do you get for the man who has everything? a tax cut. and one of the big elements in today's press is the fact that the superrich are likely to feel very squeezed after today's budget, because the finance minister will be taking away from the superrich to try to redistribute that to lower and middle-income families. and also, the corporate sector, because he has to do all he can to boost private business and the corporate sector so that they will employ more.

we've got an unemployment in the u.k. at a 17-year high, a million of those are young people. we've got an inflation rate that is higher, debts that are too high, and we've got very anemic, if any growth at all, so very difficult scenario trying to manage. but one element is he's going to close those tax loopholes for the wealthy so they can't get away with avoiding tax, and also increase those very expensive properties. >> huge property in london. sally, ok. we look forward to all of that. thank you very much indeed. thank you for watching "bbc world news" with me, david eades. coming up -- we'll have more for you from toulouse. there's been reports earlier of an explosion actually from the building where a suspected gunman is holed up. week give you the latest on that. in the latest round of the race to choose a republican candidate to face barack obama in november's u.s. presidential elections, it's mitt romney who has won in the state of illinois.

now, he's extended his lead in that race for the u.s. presidency challenge after winning the most support there. his closest rival, rick santorum, came in second. >> each step. way, i learned more about what it is that makes our american system so powerful. you can't learn that teaching constitutional law at university of chicago, all right? you can't even learn that as a community organizer. the simple truth is that this president doesn't understand the genius of america's economy or the secret of the american economics success story. >> now, let's get a round of some other stories. a libyan government minister claims that colonel gaddafi's intelligence chief is going to

be extradited. the announcement came from libya's deputy prime minister, but authorities do say no decision on extradition has been made yet. he was the man was arrested last week. he's wanted for alleged crimes against humanity during the course of last year's uprising. a car bomb has exploded in the somali capital of mogadishu. witnesses hearing busts of gunfire after the explosion. a security officer was reportedly injured in the blast, though no one has claimed responsibility. the two-month-old rhino calf has made her first public appearance at a san diego zoo. he never strayed too far from mum, weighing in at 74 kilos when she was born. she's more than doubled her weight already. >> this is "bbc world news." i'm david eades. these are the headlines --

french police are surrounding a house in toulouse, where a man believed to be behind seven killings in the region is staying. related directly to that is the situation in jerusalem now, where the bodies of three children and a rabbi from toulouse have been flown for their funerals, victims of the gunmen. our correspondent, rupert wingfield-hayes, is in jerusalem, where the funerals themselves are taking place. rupert, give us a sense of the scene there. >> wee seen a large number of people have turned out from jerusalem this morning, largely from the large french-speaking community here in israel, to show their support and concern for what has happened in france, to support the families who are here. we've also seen some very distressing scenes of the families arriving, particularly about an hour ago, we saw the mother of the 7-year-old myriam

monsonego, arrive here. she was completely distraught, unable to stand. she was then carried across the way, to where the bodies have been laid out at the center of the crowd behind me here. we understand the wife of rabbi jonathan sandler is here. one really can't start to imagine what she is going through. she's lost her husband and her 3 and 6-year-old children. we understand she's pregnant as well and that she has decided -- she's an israeli citizen -- she's decided she's not going back to france, she's going to stay in israel, and it's one of the reasons why she has brought her family here to be burried, her children and her husband. >> it's obviously very powerful scene there, rupert. in terms of france and israel, i mean, obviously it's a chance for them to say very much as one at this point in time. >> at the political level, very much so, and that's why i think

the french government has sent its foreign minister to be here. he is in the crowd behind me here to make a very powerful statement, but france is standing side by side with its jewish population and with israel, and that it is determined to fight anti-semitism. this sort of horrible crime happening in france. but on a local level, i tell thaw people here behind me here, the french-speaking community behind me here at this funeral, many of them have said this morning that this is another sign that anti-semitism is still very prevalent in france, and, in fact, the former chief rabbi of toulouse is here, and he said it shows that the only safe place for jews is here in israel. >> rupert, thanks very much indeed. >> some other news now -- fresh evidence has emerged that aspirin can help protect against cancer. a series of papers in the lancet medical journal drawing on data from more than 50 different studies suggest a daily dose cuts cancer death

and reduces the risk of the disease spreading. joining me from oxford is the report's lead author, professor peter rothwell. it's a bit of a wonder drug we've always felt in any case, but what does this latest finding tell you? >> the main finding is that aspirin seems to reduce the spread of cancer, where cancer cells spread to other parts of the body. that's important, because that's often the way cancer kills people, by spreading to the brain, the lungs, the liver, and we found that in people in trials who have been taking aspirin when we looked at detail at their medical records, they were about 30% to 40% less likely to have had cancers that spread around the body. >> right, does it have to be a case where cancer has been detected in any case to start using aspirin and to gain the benefit of that, or is this something we should all be taking as a matter of course on

a daily basis? >> those are two very different issues. we've shown that aspirin prevents the spread of cancers, so if you've had a recent diagnosis of cancer, it would certainly be worth talking to your doctor or oncoling about whether it might be something that would be worth taking in your case. i think the more general question you raise about whether aspirin should be taken more widely by people in middle age to prevent heart attacks, prevent strokes, and also prevent cancer, it is difficult to give firm recommendations on that at the moment. we need to do more work, to work out which groups of people have most to gain and which other groups of people, the risk of bleeding with aspirin probably outweighs the benefit, or at least matches it. >> yeah, i was just going to say, what would you say are the downsides of taking aspirin on a regular basis? >> yeah, well, there is this small risk of bleeding from the stomach. it's about one or two bleeds

per 10,000 people per year. but it is a side effect, and there are more minor side effects, heartburn, indigestion, and so it isn't a treatment that's without a downside. but if you have a family history of heart attacks, stroke risks or other a family history of cancer, particularly at a young age, then probably the new evidence does tip the balance in favor of taking it. >> professor, thank you very much. international security companies will no longer be allowed to operate in afghanistan, from today, in fact. president karzai has accused private companies of undermining security. he wants to replace them with a new afghan special protection force. our correspondent, david loyn, is in kabul. he's been explaining some of the challenges to me. >> there's a big problem with numbers. there are between 6,000 and 8,000 at the moment of this new force, the afghan public

protection force. and we believe that the number of private security guard is between 30,000 and 40,000. there's been discussions over the last few months with private security companies about how all this would work, and there's been confusion really reigning as to what happens now. i can say, as of today, there are far fewer armed security guards around the houses where foreigners live in kabul. that could be just because private security companies themselves have pulled out, and those guards are around private security houses. but remember, it's not just aimed at foreign security companies. this is also an attempt by president karzai to crack down on warlordism in the country itself, on individuals who have got very rich on private security contracts with foreign firms, but employing afghan guards. he wants all of those companies

brought in under this new appf, but it is not yet a large enough force to take the weight. >> and has this been a long time coming, or is there finally something which made the president think this has got to stop? >> growing frustration by president karzai that a lot of armed foreigners who are not soldiers still in kabul 10 years after the invasion of this country, and the desire of any country, really, to move towards normal relations. but remember, this is not a normally country. it's got a raging insurgency, and these foreign companies believe that in order to be better protected, they need these foreign contractors, maybe with afghan guards, but they need a lot of foreign advice in their security. the real cause of this is just over a year ago when there was a fatal traffic accident involving some of these foreign security contractors, and there were reports that the americans

then fired on the crowd. those reports denied by the american private security contractors, and it was then that president karzai said this has got to stop, bring it all in under afghan control. and it's over the last year that there's been attempts made, ending up with this deadline today to try and get this more towards a much more normal situation in afghanistan. >> david loyn there in kabul. just want to show you the shots that we have for you from toulouse at the moment. this is with respect the police are just -- this is the police are just making sure no one gets access to the house where the presumed gunman is holed up. he's in negotiations about surrendering, we understand. more on the website. also, i should say, hard talk is coming next, a former deputy prime minister, lord prescott, speaking to us.

i hope you'll stay with us for that. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.